RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech Men's Basketball teams travels south to take on long-time rival UL-Lafayette in what will be the 168th meeting on record.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Nov. 17 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Cajundome (Lafayette, La.)
TV/Stream: ESPN+ (HERE)
Radio: KXKZ 107.5 FM | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats (HERE)
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (1-1)
LA Tech fell, 64-55, to nationally ranked Texas Tech this past Monday in Lubbock. It was a one-possession game with 13 minutes to go, but the Red Raiders proceeded to go on a 14-1 run to pull away.
 
Despite only playing 23 minutes due to foul trouble, Cobe Williams scored a game-high 16 points versus the Red Raiders. Through the first two games, the fourth-year guard is averaging 16.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.0 steals per game while shooting 56 percent from the field, 46 percent from deep, and 78 percent from the foul line.
 
The Bulldogs forced the Red Raiders into 20 turnovers, which tied for the most com­mitted by Texas Tech since the 2020-21 season. It was the second straight game LA Tech forced at least 20 as Mississippi College committed 22 TOs in the season opener (first time in back-to-back games since 2018). The Bulldogs had only forced 20+ turn­overs in two games over the past two seasons.
 
Jordan Crawford was named C-USA Freshman of the Week after tallying 15 points, three assists and three steals in his Bulldog debut during week one against Mississippi College. He became the seventh Bulldog in program history to receive this honor and only the second Bulldog to earn the award in week one (DaQuan Bracey, 2016).
 
ABOUT UL-LAFAYETTE (3-0)
UL-Lafayette is undefeated through three games this season. The Ragin' Cajuns beat up on Centenary in their season opener at home and then recorded victories over Harvard, 75-61, and East Tennessee State, 81-77, to claim the Asheville Championship.
 
ULL was picked to win the Sun Belt Conference in its preseason poll, claiming 10 of the 14 first-place votes by the leagues head coaches, while forward Jordan Brown was voted as the 2022-23 SBC Preseason Player of the Year.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns have put up big offensive numbers so far, averaging 87.3 points while shooting 49 percent from the field and 42 per­cent from three-point range.
 
ULL has three players averaging double-digit points, led by Brown at 19.7 points per game. Terence Lewis II, Tournament MVP of the Ash­eville Championship, is currently averaging a double-double with 13.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per contest. Themus Fulks is the third Cajun averaging double figures with 10.3 points per game.
 
THE SERIES
The series history dates back to 1926 when LA Tech and ULL joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In the 95 seasons since then (college basketball was discontinued 1942-44 due to World War II), the two programs have played at least once in all but eight of those seasons. They have been conference rivals in six different leagues (SIAA, Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference, Gulf State Conference, Southland Conference, America South Conference, and Sun Belt Conference).
 
Since renewing the rivalry in 2013, ULL nar­rowly leads 5-4. LA Tech is 1-3 in Lafayette during this time span with the lone win com­ing in 2018 (83-62 victory).
 
LA Tech has won three of the last four meet­ings, including a 78-69 victory in Ruston last season. The Bulldogs trailed by as much as nine in the first half, but exploded for 47 sec­ond-half points to pull away. Cobe Williams had a team-high 20 points, followed by Am­orie Archibald with 18 and Kenneth Lofton, Jr. with 17.
 
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